Why only feeding a ‘handful’ to your easy-keeper is under providing nutrients

Only feeding a ‘handful’ of a fortified feed? You’re not alone! This is a common practice when dealing with easy-keepers, because, let’s face it, easy-keepers are NOT easy to keep at a healthy body weight! This is done with good intentions - restricting excess calories - which is exactly what we want to do for these horses! 

However, in practice, this leads to a problem...concentrations of essential nutrients are lower in some feeds as they are meant to be fed at a higher feeding rate to also provide calories. As such, feeding below the minimum feeding rate will shortchange your horse of key nutrients!

• Solution: Try feeding a concentrated vitamin/mineral balancer instead! These products are designed to provide essential nutrients WITHOUT added calories, in low feeding rates (150-250g). For added feeding accuracy, using a hay analysis can help you identify what balancer is best suited for your situation!

At Honos Nutrition Co., we understand that your feeding decisions come with good intentions - in a sea of available products, opinions and ideas, it can be hard to know what path is best for your horse's nutrition!

I have found that creating a great individualized diet for horses comes from bridging your good intentions with education. Horse owners tend to sense what their horses need, and just need the tools to help make an informed decision - that's where Honos comes in!

While I do create custom diet plans as part of the nutrition consults, these are not just services. The Honos nutrition consults all double as learning experiences, so that you can add tools to your horsey toolkit and feel confident to make informed decisions going forward, with the open invitation to reach out for virtual support anytime!

You can learn more about our nutrition services here, or connect anytime!